How Excited Are You About Jesus?

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to If Not For God. Stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick.

Well, if not for God with Mike Zwick, and I've got Isaiah 66 for you today, and it says, Thus says the Lord: It says, The heaven is my throne, and it says, The earth is my throne. Is my footstool? Where is the house that you will build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath my handmaid, and all those things hath been, saith the Lord.

But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor. and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. And so I want you to think about something today. As we get into this Advent season, as we get into this spirit of Christmas, this time of Christmas where everybody's excited and buying presents. And, you know, we live close to a place called the Tanger Outlets over in Meban.

And it's like, man, for a couple of days there, you can't even move. I mean, I-40 is absolutely insane. But when I think about it, what I think about is this, is people are all excited for some presents. I'm going to ask you this today. How excited are you about Jesus?

How excited are you? about Jesus. And so, what can we do to God? The Bible says that our very best of works are like filthy rags to God.

So, in other words, our very best. doesn't compare when it comes to the Lord. Our very best is not good enough for God. But if we're going to give our best to the Lord, everything that we have. We're just like...

We're just servants who are just doing our job. And so, first of all, when you think about what you're going to be doing for the Lord, is because I heard somebody say not too long ago, they said that poor people only get hungry around Christmas time.

Well, we know that's not the case. We know people get hungry all the time, but the truth is, is that we know that we have an ability. And we have the unction from God to be able to do good works. And so everybody knows from Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, where it says that we're saved by grace through faith so that nobody can boast. We can't boast of our good works.

There's nothing that we can do for God. God could do everything on his own. He doesn't need us for anything, but he chooses to use people just like you and me. And so I was talking about this on the last show. One of the things that I said is that around Christmas time is when most of the donations come in for different ministries.

Maybe you haven't been giving during the year. This is the time to donate. Because this is when a lot of these ministries are counting on people just like you and me to donate. But it says in Ephesians 2 and 8, it says that... It is by grace that we are saved.

It's not of ourselves, and it says that it's so that nobody can boast. But then it says in the very next verse, this is what it says: it says that we were created and God for good works. And I want you to listen to me right now. This is a time. If you're not thinking about it, any other time during the year, I want you to think about this: that we are created for a time just as this.

Maybe you're looking at everything that's going on in the world right now, and you're saying, Man, this world stinks. Let me share something with you. The Bible told us that it was going to be like this. The Bible told us that we were going to have tough times. But I'm going to tell you this.

God can use you because most people just get up and they're in survival mode. They don't want to reach the world for Jesus. They don't want to do all that they can do for the Lord. They're in it for themselves. And so what I'm telling you right now, what I'm telling you today is this.

If you're sitting here and you're listening to this, it's not by accident. You're listening to this for a purpose. God has created you for a purpose. You know, so many times when I hear people say, well, I'm depressed. I'm not feeling well.

I'm not feeling good. I'm down. I need to go to a psychiatry, whoever it is. And I'm not saying go to them. Do whatever you need to do.

You know, if you want to go to a doctor, go to a doctor. But what I'm also saying is this, is that many times if we have the faith and the ability to trust God, God can heal us of many of those illnesses. God can heal us of the depression. God can heal us of the bipolar disorder. We have somebody who is greater.

within us. The Bible says that greater is he who is within you than he who is within the world. The Bible says that I have made you more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. You are an overcomer. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and your personal savior, I'm here to tell you today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year.

I'm telling you today is the day of salvation. And there are people who need to hear the good news about Jesus Christ. Every day I get up and I say this. I say, who can I be a blessing to today? Who can I bless?

Who can I give to? Who can I help? Who can I share the good news of Jesus with? Who can I pray for and believe that they'll be healed? And I see it because God is a merciful God.

God is a good God. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And guess what? He uses ordinary vessels just like you and just like me. You know, you've been putting it off for a long time.

This is the Christmas season. There are two times during the year where people are thinking about Jesus. People are thinking about the cross of Jesus Christ, and it's Christmas and Easter. Maybe you've been trying to tell people about Jesus for a long time and they haven't listened. They haven't responded.

You know, this is what I would tell. This is what I would tell you: is this. If you've been inviting somebody to church for a while and they haven't come, this is what you could say. Say, hey, why don't you come to church with me this Sunday? And then you can kind of pause for a minute and then go, it's Christmas because people realize that this is a time of year where people are thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you have the obligation, not just the opportunity, you have the obligation. It is the great commission, it is not the great suggestion. I hope you're hearing what I'm saying because I've got some good news for you. God just doesn't have to use that preacher up in the pulpit. Yes, he uses him.

God doesn't just have to use that guy on TV or me on the radio. God wants to use ordinary people just like you and just like me. And he wants to use us to take the world back for Jesus Christ. He wants to use us to overcome the enemy in Jesus' name. And he will.

You know, I heard a story one time about Marco Polo and his cousin or something. They were over in a, they were in another country and they started to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with a leader of that country. And the leader of that country said this, he said, why don't you go back and you send me 40 missionaries and I'm going to have you before my court and I'm going to enable you to share this good news of Jesus Christ that you've been telling me so much about. You know what happened? 40 people never showed up.

There were two people who showed up who even left and one of them turned back because it got too rough. I wonder how much more that we can do for Jesus that we haven't done before. You know, I've heard secular scientists say that we only use a very small portion of our brain. And that there's so much more of our mind and our brain that we could actually use, and it would really, really help us. I'm here to tell you today, you may have done a little bit for Jesus.

But God wants to use you in a big way. Oh, he wants to use the guy down the street. He wants to use the preacher. He wants to use this person, that person, whoever. And what I'm saying is: God can use you.

And I'm also here to tell you as well, you don't have to be great. to get started, but you have to get started to become great. And so I think for many of us, the biggest... hindrance that we have in our ministry is procrastination. You know, there was a guy who went up.

Went up and he got to meet God and got to meet the devil. And when he got to meet God, he said, God, I want to do all these great things for you. And he said, you know what? He said, I'm going to let you ask the devil a couple of questions. And he said, devil, he said, how do you win so many people to your side when Jesus wants, God wants us all to go to heaven?

And the devil says, well, I don't tell people not to give their life to Jesus. He said, I just tell them to put it off. And I'm here to tell you that today is the day of salvation. God can do abundantly through you. which you don't even know.

But I'm telling you what else it does is it starts with prayer. You know, there was a guy named Praying Hyde. And what Praying Hyde would do is he would go, he was a missionary from America, and he went over to India. When he went there, he really wasn't seeing a lot, wasn't seeing a lot of fruit, wasn't seeing a lot of what the Lord was doing, or any of that stuff. And then he said, you know what?

He said, I'm going to pray. And he started praying every day. And he said, God, I just want to, I want to see one soul saved a day. And after that first year, there were over 400 people saved. And then when he saw that, he started asking for bigger things.

I want to see two people, five people, and up to ten people a day getting saved in that area of India. But it started with prayer. You know, I heard there's a guy named Pastor Cliff, and he told me this. He said, Mike, he said, if you want to have a meeting. He said that's going to be the least populated meeting at the church.

He said it's going to be the prayer meeting. He said, that's the meeting that everybody says, I don't want to come to, I can't do it, I don't want to do it, or anything like that. But that will be the meeting. where People don't want to come because People want to be part of something that there's action and there's excitement and this and that and the other. But see, we get our power when we pray.

There is power in prayer. There is power when Christians pray. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, But if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray, And turned from their wicked ways, he said, that I will heal their land. He'll heal ya. You just have to pray.

And a lot of times we're trying to do this stuff on our own. And I want you to realize right now that God can do more on accident. than we can do on purpose. God can do more by accident. Than we can do on purpose.

And I want you to see this right here, it's in James chapter 1. It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.

but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea. driven driven with the wind and tossed. For let that man think that he will that let that let not that man think that he will shall receive anything of the Lord and it's saying right there it says if you pray And it says that if you pray and you're not praying in faith, It says you shouldn't expect that you're going to receive anything of the Lord. Why would you expect to receive anything if the Bible teaches us to pray in faith and you're doing the exact opposite?

Of what the Bible is teaching. But see, this is what happens: when we have faith, we always have the ability to be disappointed. You know, if I'm a salesman and I set goals that I know I can hit. I'm probably going to hit those goals. But I'm not going to stretch myself.

But if I set goals that are a little bit higher than I think I could do, or a little bit out of my reach. You know what? I'm going to sell a lot more. Than I would have had I not have set those larger goals.

Now, here's the thing: I may actually miss the goal. But if I'm going on and if I'm making about $40,000 a year, and there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you're making, but if you're making $40,000 a year and your goal is $40,000 a year, You hit your goal. But if I set a goal of making $200,000 a year and I fall short and hit $170,000, Well, I'd rather make $170,000 in a year versus making $40,000.

So you're taking a chance of not hitting your goal, but what you're also doing is you're going to see bigger things that God has for you. I'm going to tell you today, and I want to ask you to do this. If you're listening right now, I want you to write this down. What are your spiritual goals for 2026? What do you want God to do in your life?

But I'm going to tell you this. Number one, it starts with prayer. I would set a daily timer. of how much time minimum that you're going to pray. Hey, you know what?

If you're not doing anything now. There's nothing wrong with setting a goal of 10 minutes. Because if you set that goal of 10 minutes and you end up praying 30 minutes a day, great. But if you don't even have a goal of I'm going to pray for 10 minutes, you're probably not going to do it at all. Are you fasting at all?

The Bible, Jesus teaches us this. He teaches us, he says, when you fast. He doesn't say if you fast, he says, when you fast. Are you fasting? How many times a month are you going to do it?

For how long are you going to do it? You see, Zig Ziglar said this one time. He said, if your goal is nothing, He said, you'll hit it every time. If you don't have a goal to do anything. You're not going to do much You're not going to do anything of importance.

And if you miss the goal, you miss the goal, but at least you tried. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found. Because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Let me ask you a question today: Are you diligently seeking God? Are you diligently seeking the face of the Lord? Are you just kind of existing? Are you just kind of going through the motions, hanging out, doing this, doing that, whatever? Hey, How important is it to you?

How important is it to you to reach your goals for the Lord?

So, we've talked about setting a prayer goal. We've talked about setting a fasting goal. What about how much are you going to read your Bible each day? How much time are you going to spend in the Word of God reading your Bible each day? Once again, because if you start, if you can pray a lot and you can do all this other stuff, but if you're not spending time in the Word of God, your doctrine can get off really quickly.

and you can start following this weird stuff. Trust me, I've seen it. If you don't spend time in the book, in the book. I know there's a lot of Christian books out there, but how much time are you spending in the Word of God? Because if you're not spending time in the book or the Word of God, You've got some issues.

You know, there was an old song, and it said, You got some issues. I think you need some counseling.

Well, how about getting some counsel? From the Word of God. Inspired by God and written by man. And I tell you what, people want to meet the president. People want to meet all these famous people.

When I read God's word, I get to hear directly from him. When I pray, I get to hear directly from God. And what I'm here telling you today is this. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And it says, And all these other things shall be given unto them.

shall be given unto you. But see, what happens is, is we seek everything else first. How much are people gonna like me? What do people think of me? What is this?

What's that? Whatever. You know what? The only person who, the only opinion. that matters in your life is the opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You're not going to stand before those friends on the day of judgment. And they're not going to say, hey, you get into heaven or you don't know. You're going to stand. before the Lord. What are you doing for the Lord right now?

How are you pleasing him? Are you pleasing him with the way that you live your life, with the way that you treat people? Jesus put it like this: he said, What you have done for the least of these, my brethren. He says, you have done it unto me. He says, which you have not done unto the least of these my brethren.

He says, you have not done it unto me. And I'm telling you, you have an opportunity. I've said it before, but you have an opportunity around this Christmas Advent season to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to be a blessing to other people. Or you could sit around and do nothing. You could sit around and just look out for yourself.

Who are you in it for? You know, we've all met people and after a while you kind of know them a little bit, but after a while you just get to know them and you realize they're only in it for themselves. They don't care about anybody else. Yeah, they can put up a good front. Yeah, they can put on a good show.

But when the truth be told, you find out: nope, you're just looking out for yourself. You're looking out for number one. Who are you looking out for? Who are you seeking after? Seek ye first.

the kingdom of God and His righteousness. and all these things shall be added unto you. There was a homeless man in Burlington who actually died this past week. I think it was on Sunday night. And he froze to death and he went up to a uh He went up to a homeless shelter and they said, No, you're drunk.

You can't come in. And he ended up leaving there. And they said he could have gone to a Uh he could have gone to the the police station or something like that, but He said no. He said, I would rather drink myself to death. Then to get warm.

That addiction that you have, sir. That you think that you have a hold on yourself It's really got a hold on you. Ma'am, that addiction to pornography that you have. You think you've got a hold on that? But it's really got a hold on you.

That person that you're committing adultery with and you think nobody else knows. I'm going to tell you right now, God knows. You know, the Bible says that man looks at the outward appearance. It says, but God, He searches the heart. Anybody can put on a good show.

But God knows what you really think. God knows how you really feel. And you know, the more that I seek the Lord. The Bible says to seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.

The more I seek the Lord, the more blessing I get. And then finally, you got to spend some time in praise. You know, the Bible taught, and I've talked about this again and again and again and again. You read the book of Psalms. Spend some time praising the Lord.

You know, I don't know who you like. I don't know if you like who you like to listen to on K-Love or whatever it is. But over and over and over again. The Bible teaches us to praise the Lord. I've got something right here.

Psalm 95, it says, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of all the earth.

The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it. And his hands form the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do error in their heart, and they have not known my ways, unto whom I swear in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. But it comes at the beginning of that chapter, and it says, You got to sing unto the Lord. And you know what that means?

We've got to praise God when we don't feel like it. We've got to praise God when everybody else is looking around us and say, you've got nothing to praise God for. And I've often told this story before, but I'll tell it again. There was a group of Christians in Nigeria, and there were some Americans who came over. And these Christians in Nigeria literally had nothing.

They didn't have any money. They didn't have any food. They didn't have anything. They barely had enough to get by each week. Just a little bit of food, just a little bit of land.

All of that. And these Nigerian Christians were praising God. Praising God. And all of a sudden, one of the Americans was a little bold and they came up to one of these guys and they said, Excuse me, you don't have any money. You don't have you don't have anything of value that this world gives a value.

What are you praising God for? And they said, Oh, We're praising God that when we die we don't have to go to hell. We're going to go to heaven and be with Jesus forever in eternity. I'm going to tell you something right now. Those are some happy people.

Those are some happy people. And Stu Epperson was just on the show. One of the things that he was telling us, telling me, was this. He said, many times the rate of suicide, instead of going down amongst people who are making a lot of money, the more money people make, the higher the rate of suicide is.

Well, I thought that money was supposed to make you happy. Can't buy me love. Yeah, yeah. It can't. It can't buy you love.

It can't buy you your salvation. You know, the Bible actually teaches in the Old Testament. says, give me neither poverty nor riches. He said, but give me my daily bread. He said, Because when I have my daily bread, if I'm too poor, that I'll have to steal and profane the name of the Lord my God.

He said, But if I have too much, He said, Then I'm going to say, Who is the Lord? I don't need you. He said, But give me just enough to meet my daily needs, God, and I'll praise you for that. How many people do you know who pray that prayer? How many people do you know who pray, God, just give me enough?

I don't want too much. Just give me enough, God. Very few people that I know. Very few. But I tell you what, when you have that attitude of gratitude.

and you see what the Lord is doing for you. Then you know. That He will bless you. And they've all, you know, even secular studies now have shown that an attitude of gratitude can actually change your life. It makes people happier.

You know, people are happier just by their attitudes. People are healthier just by their attitudes. Isn't that crazy? I mean, you know, it's good to eat healthy, it's good to exercise, and all that stuff. But one of the best things for your health is to be grateful.

Do you know that being grateful to God? Improves your health. They've done studies that show this. Don't trust me. Look it up.

Google it. And you look at it, and on the surface, you said it doesn't make sense. It makes perfect sense. Because God is real. God is intimate.

Jesus Christ wants a personal relationship with you. He's not some far distant off being. that you can't get to know. We don't serve a deist, God. We're not deists.

He's not somebody who just kind of set the clock going and then let it go and kind of said, I'm out of here. Jesus wants to know you. But I'm here to ask you today, do you want to know Jesus? You know, the Bible says in John 3, 16, it says, For God so loved the world, he said that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. It says in Romans 3, 23, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

It says in Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. It says, but the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you don't have Jesus, then you're gonna go to hell and you're gonna be there for all of eternity, and there is no way out. Like the old Eagle song.

You can come in anytime you like, but you can't ever leave. You can go to hell anytime you like, but you can't ever leave. But I tell you what, there's another way, and it's trusting in Jesus Christ. Would you do it with me today? Just say, Dear Lord Jesus.

I repent of my sins. I turn away from my sins, Lord, and I surrender my life to you. Thank you for saving me right now. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen and amen. Merry Christmas, If Not for God.

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